Dolphin Way: Rise of the Guardians (34 page)

‘
Wait, don’t go yet, there is something I have to tell you! The Guardians have me here for a reason. They are planning on using me. When I was waiting to meet the Xenthos, a group of the Guardians ambushed me and attacked me. They hurt me pretty badly. They forced me to come here, and I have been here...fifty-two or fifty-three days I think, nearly two moons anyway. So the Xenthos must think we didn’t turn up for the goodwill exchange.’

‘
Don’t worry about that, saving you is more important — I’ve got to go now!’

‘
No, you don’t understand — I’ve overheard their conversations sometimes. In the next day or two the Xenthos should have escorted me back to the clan. The Guardians are going to take me there just before. Dusk, they are going to kill me there and leave me for our clan to find. It will look like the Xenthos killed me!’

Dusk could not speak for a moment. Were they really capable of this? ‘But why — what would be the point?’

He surfaced painfully to take another breath. She winced as the slight swell pressed him against the ceiling. A little of his blood drifted down to them, like smoke through still air.

‘
Because the Guardians want the Ka-Tse to dominate all the other zeta species. They think that’s the answer to the food shortages and a lot of other crazy things. They want open conflict between us and the other zetii species. They think that because I am the Prime Mother’s son, the Council…’

She wheeled around. Yes, there it was — a distant familiar cry: ‘It is I, Storm Before Darkness!”

Chapter 46

“
He went to the land

She went to the sea

I’ll come back to you

If you give yourself to me.”

- Traditional

The fleck of white was distinct now in spite of the distance. It shone bright against the dark band of rain clouds that girdled that horizon, the towers of cloud boiling slowly high into the air above it. There would be rain coming with those clouds, and sharp wind squalls, but for now the fleck was ahead of it all. The sunlight still favoured it and its optimistic brightness beckoned the eye away from the forbidding gloom.

Sky watched it reflectively as he slowly patrolled the shoreline of Forlorn Island. He hoped that the fleck was coming this way as it seemed. It would carry Walkers, and he had become deeply intrigued by them since meeting One Eye.

The “one or two” days that he had suggested Sky stay at the island had lengthened into nearly fifty. He had found that One Eye’s irascible façade masked a willingness to have some company, he was just very fussy as to who it might be. And he was an Aligner. He had told Sky stories of a few other visitors; none of whom stayed long. One Eye found most other dolphins tedious companions. He complained that they had few opinions of their own, they lacked insight, were unable to hold an intelligent debate, or that they were simply boring. Sky had been surprised and flattered to realise that apparently, he was not considered to be in these categories. As he slowly gained One Eye’s trust he had learned more and more about him. He knew an extraordinary amount about the Walkers, and Sky had tried to find out why. Sky gathered from strands of conversations that he had been in the company of Walkers for some time when he was young, probably as a captive; then he had somehow escaped or been released. Whenever Sky tried to probe, he would stop talking or change the subject. But Sky had gathered that they had tried to make him perform some task for them. It seemed that he had initially been ambivalent about it and had cooperated, but then he had learned something that had completely alienated him from them. He had made the remark on several occasions that there were probably plenty of well-intentioned Walkers, but had clearly implied that they were not all like that.

He seemed to know a lot about the ways in which the Walkers fought each other. The scale of slaughter in their conflicts sounded staggering, and Sky was sure that this was one subject where One Eye was prone to exaggeration. Sky still struggled to understand why they would do this and the old dolphin had no real explanation. Sky had wondered if a faction of Walkers had tried to use One Eye in some way in their efforts to dominate another of their clans, but it seemed too bizarre. He had never dared to ask him as the old dolphin clearly disliked talking about it. On some occasions though, Sky had found that One Eye could be persuaded to say more and Sky had made good use of these, asking many questions about the Walkers and their strange ways.

Slowly, the fleck grew in size, and by mid morning, he could make out the details of it. It was not a typical Walkers’ craft; not one of the huge, noisy, metal monsters that thrashed their way across the waters. This was a wind-craft and it leant away from the pressure of the air and cleaved through the water in silence. The way that it rode the swells like a zeta and its use of the wind reassured Sky. Not all Walkers used their machines to force their will on Ocean then. If Walkers existed that were sympathetic to Ocean’s rhythms, then surely they might be found on a craft such as this?

It made its way past the shore of the island. Sky drew parallel to it and cautiously surfaced briefly to examine it. It was mostly white, with a tall pole protruding from its centre. Two great sheets of white material were suspended from this pole and they were filled with wind, pushing the craft through the sea. It was not particularly fast and it was easy for Sky to keep pace with it. On its front on each side there was a picture and some strange markings. Although it was highly stylised, Sky recognised that the picture was of a turtle. This seemed a good omen.

Towards the back of the craft a Walker stood in a recess, holding a big circle that moved slightly from time to time. The Walker had some blue material about its lower body, brown skin and grey hair on its head. It had what looked like dark pebbles over its eyes. It had more grey hair on its face, and Sky remembered that One Eye had said that this was a fairly reliable way to tell that a Walker was a male.

Soon, another Walker appeared from a hole and came up. The hairy male disappeared down the same hole. Sky judged that this new one was much younger, with a smooth, unblemished skin. It too went to the circle and held it as it turned back and forth. The new Walker was smaller and more slender than the first one and had long hair growing from its head. Sky liked the way this moved in the wind, like golden seaweed being swept about in a swell. This Walker wore two small strips of red material around its body and had no hair on its face. One Eye had said this sometimes indicated a female, but that the best identifier was that the adult females often had bumps on their chest. The upper red strip did indeed seem to be covering some swellings on the Walker’s chest so Sky guessed that this younger one must be female.

Sky was growing in confidence now and he drew closer to the craft, and made higher leaps so that he could see better. Then, during one jump, the Walker turned her head and looked directly at him. Her mouth widened and her white teeth showed clearly against her tanned skin. Cleaners sometimes showed their teeth this way just before attacking, but somehow it did not seem a threatening gesture. The Walker stepped up onto the edge of the craft to look at Sky, shading her eyes with one hand. She stayed like that for some time, as Sky stayed alongside the craft, observing her carefully. During one leap he noticed that the rain squall that had been approaching from behind was nearly upon them. He could see the marks of a blast of air flattening the waves as it sped outwards from the clouds, coming fast, very fast. It hit the Walker craft hard and it lurched over violently. The wind filled the great white cloths from the other side and there was a sudden crack as a rope snapped. Sky watched in mystification as a great pole attached to the bottom of one of the cloths swung across the craft and struck the female from behind. She was thrown hard into the water.

The squall passed and the wind subsided somewhat. The craft carried on its way much as before, the female disappeared below the surface. Sky wondered if she might have entered the water to hunt, but he was reluctant to approach her closely underwater. He watched the craft as it moved away. The older male appeared from the hole suddenly and looked around. He shouted something several times. It sounded to Sky like “Ah-Na, Ah-Na!” then he moved about quickly, pulling things and turning the circle. Gradually, one of the big cloths seemed to roll away and the craft began to turn. It was now quite far from where the female had entered the water so Sky lost interest in it. But now he was beginning to doubt that her dive into the water was intentional. The Walkers did many inexplicable things, but that had seemed like a very abrupt way to initiate a dive. He looked underwater to see if he could find her. He soon did and watched her from a distance. She was just below the surface and slowly sinking. She was motionless and some bubbles were coming from her mouth. Sky was becoming more certain that something was wrong. It was good to be relaxed during a dive but she was not moving at all. And who would waste air by exhaling at the start of a dive? Then Sky saw a large oceanic shark below the Walker. It had clearly seen her and started to cautiously circle her, moving closer, closer. Sky surfaced briefly. The Walker craft had come back, but had gone past him in the opposite direction now. The male seemed agitated, and was still shouting as before, ‘Ah-na! Ah-na!’ The female must be in difficulty. Sky dived down again and saw her body had fallen further. Her golden hair gently streamed above her, her face was blank. The shark bumped her with its snout and made a tight turn back towards her. Sky knew it had done this to test its victim, to make sure it was dead or helpless prey. Now it would eat.

Sky hurtled in and butted the shark hard in the side. It whipped around to face him with its jaws wide but Sky dodged at the last moment. It lunged at him but Sky darted aside, away from the Walker who continued to fall. The shark turned back towards the Walker but Sky hit it again. This time it had had enough and it sped off for the depths, looking for an easier meal.

Sky put his head under the Walker and lifted her to the surface. He remembered that she would have no blowhole so he turned her face uppermost so that her mouth and nose were in the air. She did not breathe so he pressed her hard in the chest like he would if he was helping another zeta. On the third attempt she coughed and retched and began breathing. Her eyes flickered open then gradually focussed on Sky. He knew he was in a very vulnerable position now if this was a dangerous Walker. But she did not seem dangerous. In fact, while he supported her there, and she gradually reached full consciousness, she stared into Sky’s eyes with a look of great intelligence and warmth, and she caressed him softly with her hands.

Then Sky heard the male Walker’s voice. He must have seen them and he guided the craft towards them. He brought it to a stop beside them, and stared over with wide eyes at Sky and the female. He reached down to her, making again the sound ‘Ah-na’ and some more noises. Sky withdrew cautiously, not wishing to be touched by the male in case he was dangerous, and watched him lift the female into the craft. She was still very weak, but alive.

Sky made one last leap before he left them, and as he fell back to the water he saw them looking at him. The female weakly raised one hand to him, as though in greeting or farewell.

The man cradled Anna’s head in his lap and gently brushed her long hair from her eyes. She watched the sleek grey body disappear into the waves then turned to look up at her father, her eyes shining.

‘
A dolphin. A dolphin saved my life.’

Chapter 47

“
The undisciplined mind confuses misfortune with mistakes.”

- Saturn Over Antares (12,415-12,438 post Great Alluvium)

A little way off the south west corner of Forlorn Island under the familiar steep, rocky cape, Sky hung in the water between two tall rock pillars. This had become his favourite spot. The light in the afternoon was lovely, and today, with the sea barely rippled, he expected it to be an especially good day to observe the Shades. He needed something to lift his mood.

As the sun slowly fell, shafts of light sliced down into the depths, wavering gently like searching eyes. Shoals of the bright orange Anthias swarmed around the twin pillars, gently swimming against the waters that the full moon was dragging westwards. The sun behind the Anthias made each little fish burn like a point of fire. Sky had seen real fires burning on the land before; they looked beautiful but dangerous. He had been told that they were very hot and he hoped one day he might be close enough to one to feel for himself. It was good to have something to look forward to.

The incident with the Walkers had given him something to think about. Seeing what they did to Ocean and listening to others speak of them had given him the impression that they were selfish, dangerous creatures with no sense of belonging or responsibility to Ocean. But the female Ah-Na had not seemed like that. He had touched her and looked into her strange eyes. She had seemed gentle and kind, and he had felt a connection with her somehow. Although One Eye seemed unable to recognise a real distinction between good and evil, Sky was sure that she had been a “good” Walker. Maybe the zetii
should
try and make contact with the Walkers. Maybe there could be some way to warn them of what was happening to Ocean.